Page 43 of The Dragon With A Girl Tattoo
“Nala is the mother of Xavier,” Archer said, the words dropping like lead.Next to me, Yrian stiffened.
I sent him a quick glance, but his expression was frozen, although his eyes had narrowed on Archer when he asked, “What sept was this Xavier from?”
“Blue dragons,” Hunter answered.“Our mother, Raisa, was a green dragon when he abducted her and impregnated her in his attempt to create the race of dragon hunters.”
Once again, he and Archer exchanged telling looks.
“It didn’t work,” Thaisa said, giving her dragon a little smile.“At least, not until we broke the curse that kept the two of them unbalanced.”
My attention was on Yrian.He didn’t seem to be breathing.I leaned in close and whispered in his ear, “Who is Nala?”
His head turned, his eyes now dark with obvious pain and distress.“My youngest daughter.”
“You have kids?”I asked, for some reason astounded by the idea that he had children.I mentally lectured myself that of course he had children—he’d had an official mate, one who helped him create more dragons, not a weird artificer with a penchant for quirky men with dragon tats.
“I had four daughters.Three died.The fourth survived, but I placed her into hiding before I retreated to my griefscape,” he answered, but I could almost feel the pain in him.
I put my hand on his, giving his fingers a supportive squeeze.“I’m sorry.Even if it was a long time ago, I’m sure you still feel their loss.Is Nala still alive?”
He turned to look at Archer, a question in his shaded eyes.
The latter shook his head.“The castle she held was under siege by mortals, and she was killed in their attack around 800 CE.”
I rubbed Yrian’s fingers, my heart aching for him.He was silent for a few minutes while the others discussed what Xavier could want with the green dragons, but eventually squared his shoulders and addressed the others.“This changes little.Kashi is more powerful and poses a bigger threat, not just to Becket, but to dragonkin.”
“Sorry I’m late.Again.We have a new steward, ironically named Stewart, who is a very nice man, but he’s horrible about arranging me transport out of the Beyond to wherever a sarkany was being held.Hello, everyone.”Charity entered the room, a notepad clasped in her hands as she greeted the dragons.All the wyverns stood and bowed, including Yrian, who fetched another chair, placing it on my far side.I figured that since no one objected to her presence, she must be a normal member at the meetings.“The First Dragon is away helping one of his brothers with a problem, so I’m here to take notes for him.Did I miss anything I should tell him?”
“Nothing other than the fact that Yrian created both the septs and the weyr, which I think is pretty amazing,” Aisling said, her eyes still big when she looked at him.
“Oh, I didn’t know that.”Charity hesitated, then set down her pen.“But I’m sure the First Dragon does, so feel free to proceed.”
“And then there’s the fact that Becket is Yrian’s mate,” Ysolde pointed out, smiling at us.
“No,” I said firmly.
Yrian cocked an eyebrow at me.
“We are not discussing this now,” I told him, his eyebrow, and Ysolde.“There’s too many other things going on to distract ourselves with who may or may not be a mate.”
“Just so.Charity, we were explaining to Yrian why his help is needed in dealing with Xavier,” Drake said, obviously trying to take control of the meeting again.
“Who it turns out is Yrian’s grandson.Oh!”Ysolde’s eyebrows rose as she looked at her dragon.“That means he’s your grandnephew, and Constantine’s cousin.”
“Just what I need.More murderous family,” Constantine muttered.
“After discussing the situation with Bastian, we have agreed that it’s likely Xavier wants the shards belonging to the green dragons,” Drake continued.
“You have more than one shard?”Yrian asked, a little frown pulling down his eyebrows.
A sudden urge to smooth out the wrinkle between his brows was so overwhelming, I actually lifted my hand before I realized what I was doing.I tucked my fingers under my leg, determined to keep my misbehaving libido in check.
“Yes,” Drake said, looking away.
“He has our shard, the one given to the black dragons,” Ysolde told Yrian.“I gave it to him in exchange for retrieving Baltic’s mage sword.”
“Without bothering to ask me if I wanted you to do so,” Baltic said with a glower at her.
She just smiled in return.“Shortly after which, the sword was lost to the mages and handed over to Bael.”
